Chivayo, Kadungure in trouble

The State has revived a case in which controversial businessmen Wicknell Chivayo and Genius Kadungure are being charged for allegedly defrauding two local businessmen about six years ago.

Police only brought Chivayo to court yesterday and no indications were made as to when Kadungure would appear before the same court.

He was given bail on the same terms as those imposed on his previous case in which he is being accused of defrauding the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC).

The State is alleging that sometime in November 2012, Chivayo connived with Kadungure to create a fictitious company named Transco Civil Engineering, purportedly based in neighbouring South Africa.

It is being alleged that they proceeded to open an ABSA bank account. The State claims that they also opened an e-mail account procurement@marangediamonds.com purporting to be doing business for Marange Diamonds, which is one of the companies that used to operate in Chiadzwa, in Marange.

It is said that they rented space at Hetzner (Private) Limited in South Africa.

Chivayo and Kadungure then contacted the complainant, whose name was not revealed in court, pretending to be the chief buyers at Marange Resources, looking for mining pumps.

They reportedly gave the complainant an order to supply 10 T-90 Transco-Flo Helical Rotor pumps and referred him to Transco knowing that it was a fictitious company.

The complainant then sent his brother, Enock Gatawa and ZAR446 900 was deposited into Transco's ABSA account and a further ZAR300 000 later that day.

After transferring the money, Gatawa contacted Transco and was told to go back to Zimbabwe and wait for delivery of the pumps from DHL in three days.

To his surprise, Gatawa got a parcel that had cell-phone chargers and realised that they had been swindled.

Kadungure used ZAR500 000 to buy gas and another ZAR500 000 was transferred into the account of Edward Teka. Chivayo and Kadungure converted ZAR1 046 890 to their own use. The complainant in the second case is Dexter Nduna, the Member of Parliament for Chegutu West constituency.

Using the same modus operandi, it is alleged by the State that Kadungure and Chivayo opened an ABSA bank account under the name Always on Pumps (Private) Limited.

They then approached Nduna claiming they were looking for mining pumps. Nduna was given an order for 20 T-90 Transco-Flo Helical Rotor pumps before being referred to Always on Pumps, which was purported to be a reputable supplier.

He lost ZAR535 000 in the deal as Chivayo and Kadungure became evasive. Meanwhile, Chivayo was yesterday accused of flouting his bail conditions by not reporting to the police as ordered by the court in a pending fraud case involving $5 million allegedly swindled from ZPC.

Detective sergeant Enock Tapasi told the court Chivayo was ordered by the court to report every Monday and Friday at CID Commercials Crimes Unit but did not do so last Monday. Tapasi said his bail should be revoked as a result.

Chivayo responded that he was turned away by an unidentified female police officer who told him that there was no one at the station because it was Heroes Day.

However, the State argued that Chivayo was not being honest because other people reported to the police that same day. The court's ruling will be passed on Monday.